| Bowness-on-Windermere | |
|---|---|
| Town | |
 Bowness-on-Windermere town centre | |
  Bowness-on-Windermere Location in the former South Lakeland district Show map of the former South Lakeland district | |
| Population | 3,814 |
| OS grid reference | SD403969 |
| Civil parish | |
| Unitary authority | |
| Ceremonial county |
|
| Region | |
| Country | England |
| Sovereign state | United Kingdom |
| Post town | WINDERMERE |
| Postcode district | LA23 |
| Dialling code | 015394 |
| Police | Cumbria |
| Fire | Cumbria |
| Ambulance | North West |
| UK Parliament | |
| 54°21′52″N2°55′05″W / 54.3644°N 2.9181°W /54.3644; -2.9181 | |
Bowness-on-Windermere is a town and formercivil parish, now in the parish ofWindermere and Bowness, in theWestmorland and Furness district, in the ceremonial county ofCumbria, England. It lies next toLake Windermere and thetown of Windermere to the north east and within theLake District National Park. The town washistorically part of the county ofWestmorland and it also forms an urban area with Windermere. The town had a population of 3,814 in the 2011 Census.
'Bowness' (originally 'Bulnes') means " 'the headland where the bull grazes', fromOE 'bula', 'bull' and OE 'næss', 'headland', perhaps referring to the keeping of the parish bull."[1] The 'on-Windermere' part was added later (found on the Ordnance Survey map of 1899).
The town's ancientparish church of St Martin was built in 1483 but of an older foundation. The former rectory is said to have been built in 1415.[2]
Agrammar school was founded in about 1600. A new building was opened in 1836, funded by local landowner John Bolton ofStorrs Hall. The foundation stone was laid byWilliam Wordsworth.[3]
During the 19th century, Bowness grew from a small fishing village to a town living almost entirely off tourism and holiday homes. It was the centre of the boat-building industry that provided the sailing yachts, rowing boats and steam launches used on the lake. A large number of hotels and boarding houses gave employment to the permanent population of the town.Queen Adelaide visited Bowness in 1840, staying at the Royal Hotel.[3] The arrival of the railway in 1847 inWindermere (the residents of Bowness had opposed a station in their own town) provided much of the momentum for the growth.
Bowness-on-Windermere became acivil parish in 1894[4] and anurban district council was formed for the town at the same time. In 1905, the council merged with that of Windermere, and the two civil parishes merged on 1 April 1974 under the name of Windermere.[5] At the 1951 census (one of the last before the abolition of the parish), Bowness on Windermere had a population of 3345.[6] The civil parish of Windermere and Bowness is governed by atown council, Windermere and Bowness Town Council.[7]
Windermere railway station offerstrain andbus connections to the surrounding areas,Manchester,Manchester Airport and theWest Coast Main Line, and is about 1.5 miles (2.4 km) from the lakefront. BothStagecoach and the local council provide frequent connecting buses from Bowness Pier; Stagecoach's open-topdouble-decker buses travel through the centre of town and continue toAmbleside andGrasmere, while the council'swheelchair-accessibleminibuses run around the edge of town. TheWindermere Ferry, a car carryingcable ferry, connects Bowness at Ferry Nab on the eastern side of the lake with Ferry House atFar Sawrey on the western side of the lake, a trip of approximately 10 minutes. For those looking for a more leisurely way to travel,Windermere Lake Cruises operate regular lake cruises running from Bowness Bay to the north end of the lake at Ambleside and south end at Fell Foot.
Local news and television programmes are provided byBBC North West andITV Border. Television signals are received from the local relay transmitter.[8]
Local radio stations areBBC Radio Cumbria,Heart North West andSmooth Lake District. Community on-line stations are Lake District Radio,[9] and Bay Trust Radio.[10]
The town's local newspapers areThe Westmorland Gazette andThe Mail.[11]
Readers ofArthur Ransome'sSwallows and Amazons series of books will recognise Bowness as the lakeside town of 'Rio'. The collection at theWindermere Steamboat Museum on Rayrigg Road includes TSSYEsperance, 1869; one of the iron steamboats on which Ransome modelled Captain Flint's houseboat. Bowness-on-Windermere is also home to The World ofBeatrix Potter attraction, opened in July 1991 byVictoria Wood.
